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Plant Cytogenetics: From Chromosomes to Cytogenomics

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Plant Cytogenetics and Cytogenomics

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2672))

Abstract

Chromosomes have been studied since the late nineteenth century in the disciplines of cytology and cytogenetics. Analyzing their numbers, features, and dynamics has been tightly linked to the technical development of preparation methods, microscopes, and chemicals to stain them, with latest continuing developments described in this volume. At the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries, DNA technology, genome sequencing, and bioinformatics have revolutionized how we see, use, and analyze chromosomes. The advent of in situ hybridization has shaped our understanding of genome organization and behavior by linking molecular sequence information with the physical location along chromosomes and genomes. Microscopy is the best technique to accurately determine chromosome number. Many features of chromosomes in interphase nuclei or pairing and disjunction at meiosis, involving physical movement of chromosomes, can only be studied by microscopy. In situ hybridization is the method of choice to characterize the abundance and chromosomal distribution of repetitive sequences that make up the majority of most plant genomes. These most variable components of a genome are found to be species- and occasionally chromosome-specific and give information about evolution and phylogeny. Multicolor fluorescence hybridization and large pools of BAC or synthetic probes can paint chromosomes and we can follow them through evolution involving hybridization, polyploidization, and rearrangements, important at a time when structural variations in the genome are being increasingly recognized. This volume discusses many of the most recent developments in the field of plant cytogenetics and gives carefully compiled protocols and useful resources.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the many students, post-docs, visitors, and collaborators over the last 40 years involving us with many different species and questions we were able to ask and answer looking at chromosomes. We acknowledge funding from the Overseas Distinguished Scholar Project of South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y861041001) to JSHH.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Trude Schwarzacher & J. S. (Pat) Heslop-Harrison

  2. Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization / Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Trude Schwarzacher, Qing Liu & J. S. (Pat) Heslop-Harrison

  3. Center of Conservation Biology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Trude Schwarzacher, Qing Liu & J. S. (Pat) Heslop-Harrison

  4. South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China

    Trude Schwarzacher, Qing Liu & J. S. (Pat) Heslop-Harrison

Authors
  1. Trude Schwarzacher
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  2. Qing Liu
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  3. J. S. (Pat) Heslop-Harrison
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Trude Schwarzacher .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Botany, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Tony Heitkam

  2. Botanical Institute of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Sònia Garcia

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Schwarzacher, T., Liu, Q., (Pat) Heslop-Harrison, J.S. (2023). Plant Cytogenetics: From Chromosomes to Cytogenomics. In: Heitkam, T., Garcia, S. (eds) Plant Cytogenetics and Cytogenomics. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2672. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3226-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3226-0_1

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